THE TONGUE DETECTS at least
five distinct tastes—sweet, salty,
sour, bitter, and umami (a savor y,
meaty taste). But our tongues
don’t act alone in tasting. “We
actually ‘taste’ food with all of
our senses, and it is scientifically
inaccurate to think of flavor
as just the taste of food in the
mouth,” says Charles Michel,
flavor expert and former food
scientist at Oxford University’s
Crossmodal Research Laboratory.
Scientists suggest that about 75
percent of what we think is taste
is actually smell. We think we
taste in our mouths, but most of
the experience happens through
our nose and in our brain.
“Our noses are more sensitive
than our tongues,” says Joachim.
“We have about 40 million olfac-
tory neurons picking up odors
from the air and from food vapors
traveling up to the nose from the
back of the mouth.” Aroma chem-
icals are volatile, meaning they
can f loat through the air. When
we put food in our mouths, those
vapors strike olfactory receptors
in the back of the throat, contrib-
uting to the taste experience.
But as 1st-century gourmand
Apicius said, “We eat first with
our eyes.” Indeed, the mere sight
of delicious morsels can trigger
our salivary glands as our brains
remember enjoyable meals past,
especially savory, high-fat foods.
Electrical neuroimaging analysis
has found that human brains
become alert to images of high-
energy foods within 100 millisec-
onds, faster than our brains react
to the sight of foods lower in nutri-
tional value. Researchers say that
we find high-energy foods more
FOLLOW
YOUR NOSETO FLAVOR
appealing because they have a high incentive value.
Visual hunger may be an evolutionary adaptation that
helped us find foods that would sustain us longest.
In another experiment, a study called “The Butch-
er’s Tongue Illusion,” researchers at the University
of Oxford’s Crossmodal Research Laboratory set out
to prove that one sensory organ—namely the eyes—
can inf luence another organ’s assessment of f lavor.
Researchers instructed subjects to place their heads
inside a box fitted with an angled mirror that would
allow them to view their tongue when they stuck it
out and held it motionless between their teeth. Unbe-
knownst to them, the mirror showed a fake tongue,
not their own. When the scientists touched the rub-
ber tongue with a Q-tip, the subjects reported feeling
their own tongue being touched. In a second test, the
fake tongue was illuminated with a red laser pointer.
Some participants reported feeling heat on their
tongues; others, a cool stimulation.
When we see and smell the smoke rising from the
grill, when we salivate to the fat dripping off roasted
meat and ultimately taste its savory f lavor on our
tongues, we are participating in an ancient multi-
sensory experience that continues to draw us to the
seductive tango of fire and f lesh. So, when you spark
up that barbecue, show respect to those meat-eaters
who singed their forearm hairs before you.
Don’t overcook that steak.Think of a chicken
or turkey. You’ve
got white meat
(the breasts) and
dark meat (thighs).
Each is made up of
a different type of
muscle fiber, called
“fast-twitch” or
“slow-twitch.” “Dark
meats are made
up of slow-twitch
muscles that pro-
duce slow, steady
movement,” explains
Meathead. They
contain more fat
for energy and myo-
globin, which turnsthe meat darker and
makes it more fla-
vorful when cooked.”
Fast-twitch muscles
are used for brief
bursts of energy and
contain less moisture
and fat, making them
dry out faster when
cooked. Poultry is
bred for large breasts
because white meat
is more popular with
consumers. “I can’t
understand why,”
says Meathead. “I’ll
take tough and fla-
vorful meat over mild
and dry any day.”WHY WHITE MEATS DRY
OUT WHEN COOKED42 September 2019 PHOTOGRAPH BY TREVOR RAAB